WEEKLY WHINE

Travel log

Last week, I took a happy trip to the Texas region. In that area, there was plenty of stuff around. First, let me observe that there was wonderful weather. In particular, it rained but twice, neither occurrence very long. The temperatures were well into the sixties and often in the seventies [Fahrenheit], but there was the occasional wind.

There's plenty of fun stuff in San Antonio, such as the world-famous Riverwalk. That's located right downtown where you can walk around on the San Antonio River [well not on it, but next to it], buy stuff, and eat other stuff. Of course, there are plenty of places to buy stuff and then eat it; you just have to be careful that you're buying something edible. Anyway, here's something you can try on your next trip to San Antonio: Go to the Hard Rock Cafe, also on the Riverwalk, with lots of your friends. Or enemies I guess, you just need lots of people. Then, when your orders come, you might get a different waiter/waitress who therefore doesn't know which item goes to which person. Some of them try to guess, so find out how close they are.

Also, be sure to stop by the Rivercenter, also on the Riverwalk. The Rivercenter is a fairly good sized shopping center that also contains a standard theater and an IMAX theater that shows a corny "documentary" about the Alamo. My review: Keep your money, head a block north, and go to the real thing. Anyway, getting back to the Rivercenter, there's plenty of things to do there, including heading to the lobby of the Marriott and playing Name That Opposing Player, where you guess the identity of the visiting teams as they go off to the Alamodome for their afternoon shootarounds before their game against the Spurs.

Did somebody say Spurs? If you're reading this out loud, that was you. Anyway, yes I was around for last Tuesday's game when the Spurs hosted the Pistons. If you missed that one, you missed a bunch of kids hog-tying a Pistons fan, but that's another story. You didn't miss David Robinson, but you did miss some kid with a Spurs hat but a Pistons shirt. Even I know that's not allowed. You also missed Tim Duncan miss a triple double, with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. You also missed Avery Johnson's go ahead jumper with :04.4 left, and Grant Hill's brick as time expired. In other words, you missed a 95-94 San Antonio win.

Late last week, I headed to Space Center Houston, which is one of those things intended to make doofi like you smarter about space travel. No, that doofus reference doesn't mean you in particular, just the audience in general. So what if I'm a cynic. Anyway, it also had an IMAX theater, where I viewed Mission to Mir, something about the space station of the same name. I like the opening sequence of all those IMAX movies, you know, when they say "Filmed in space by The Astronauts". That's kinda cool. Anyway, I spent pretty much the entire day there and still didn't see everything. I'll tell you what I did see. That was a special day, because they had a presentation about STS-89, hosted by the crew of STS-89. Yes, I thought that was swell, too. They talked about docking with Mir and about the International Space Station, which will start in-orbit construction later this year. Unless of course Congress slices its budget again. If you're planning on checking out Space Center Houston, I've got two tips. One: Plan to spend the entire day, because either you will spend the entire day or you'll miss out on something. And two: On the MMU trainer, use short bursts.